The Odd Life of Timothy Green

A small-town couple (Jennifer Garner, Aussie Joel Edgerton) can't have kids. So they literally bury their hopes in a "wish box" in their garden. Suddenly, a mysterious young boy with leaves on his feet sprouts up and starts calling them Mom and Dad. You'd expect all sorts of Disney-approved uplift from this "heartwarming" scenario about a magical kid who changes everyone's lives for the better, but the story (by Frank Zappa spawn Ahmet Zappa) is both manipulative and mundane. There's a major subplot about a pencil factory: How's that for exciting? The film desperately wants you to feel good, but there's not a lot to get worked up over here. The whole movie is filled with cardboard characters waiting for their climactic change of heart. 125 minutes PG.